Reality And Us

Chapter Thirty Six

Jamie looked almost scared as he finished talking. Nervously he looked up at Nick, who just furrowed his eyebrows. He was thinking, this wasn't unexpected. Except it kind of was.

"And what do you gain out of this? I mean, I get it, it makes you happy to behave so recklessly. But what's there to outweigh the dangers of this?", he asked his best friend.

"It makes me happy. That's already enough of a reason for me."

Nicklas sighed. "And you really have to hang out with those people?"

"Be careful, you'll sound like my Mom.", Jamie answered, "But, yes, I do. They're a lot cooler than you'd think."

"But they're high. All the time.", Nick mumbled. He was genuinely concerned for the other, this wasn't good. He wanted his friend to be happy, but seeing the boy becoming so thoughtless made him uncomfortable.

"And? It's not like I'll start dealing drugs or something. They're just fun to be with. And it's my life, Nick.", Jamie stated, emphasizing the 'my', sounding very final on his stance to this.

The other boy just nodded. He couldn't really change anything about this.

"Stella's fine with it?", he asked.

Jamie rolled his eyes, "Yes. We've already talked about it. She doesn't mind, as long as I don't do anything too bad, Mum."

"Shut up.", Nick muttered.

Suddenly his phone made a sound.

He checked it, and his eyes widened. It was unexpected, he couldn't believe what he was reading.

"Are you good?", Jamie asked, finding that startled expression of his friend to be both amusing and worrying.

Nick just stared at his phone. Was Zane okay? Did he need to talk about it? Did he need someone right now?

He started typing 'are you okay? do you want to talk?', not answering the other's question.

The answer was there fast, 'are you free right now?'.

He looked up at his friend. Technically speaking he wasn't free - it was Friday afternoon, that was the equivalent to not free.

"Jamie?"

"Hm?"

Nick hesitated a bit. How did he ask now if they could stop hanging out for now, continue another day? Under any other circumstances he would've chosen to continue spending time together, but this was a special case. Would it be weird to just say what was the case?

Honestly, the real question wasn't whether or not it was weird - in reality, he just really wanted to mention the break up, mention that it had been two guys, just to have his friends reaction. Maybe childish, yes, but he felt the need to do it, felt kind of scared. It wouldn't have any impact on Jamie, the boy would probably just forget it afterwards, but to Nicklas, it was more than important.

"A friend of mine just broke up with his boyfriend - wait, now ex-boyfriend. And he might need some support . . .", he said, trailing off.

It was almost as if he was expecting the other to say something. To react to it, in any way. Some weird way. But nothing, it was almost as if what had been so important to Nick just went past him.

"If he needs you right now you should go to him. Or meet up somewhere."

"Are you sure it's fine? I mean, I don't want to shoo you out or something."

But Jamie just shook his head, "It's okay. We can talk another time."

~~~

Half an hour later Nick was sitting on a bench in the park. Wearing a nice, warm beanie and some good gloves it was actually pretty nice to be outside.